1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a structural element such as a building facade and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fire protection elements such as windows, doors, gates and shutters, in addition to supplementary top, side and bottom pieces, serve to close walls and/or structural openings in buildings and do so namely at all locations where they are required by the national and local building codes.
Since fire resistant glasses have come into existence, exterior openings are increasingly being provided with fire resistant windows at particularly endangered locations, such as where portions of the building join at right angles.
The numerous large fires in hotels, office buildings and other large buildings, and particularly the spreading thereof into the interior portions of large cities, have shown that flames spread not only from floor to floor, but also from building to building.
In this respect, buildings with facades hung or built into the front thereof, regardless of which construction, are especially dangerous to the neighborhood in case of fire, because the exterior building surfaces, which open due to the effects of the fire, magnify the size and potential effects of the fire on adjacent and opposite buildings.
Since particularly in areas of cities having numerous office buildings, entire rows of streets have buildings with facades hung or built onto the fronts thereof, thus, it would be advisable to provide buildings endangered in this manner with fire resistant facades and/or roofs, which prevent the spreading of destructive fires to other floors and buildings within the framework of the common fire classes according to, for example, German Industrial Standard 4102.
Today there are no such surrounding or partially surrounding structural elements for buildings.